Week 16: 2 down, 5 to go!

By Wednesday cp112 had completed their second subject of module 2, Radio Navigation. It feels good to have made a dent into module 2, but it's also quite sobering to know we have 5 more subjects to complete, with only 19 days of instruction before the mocks are upon us once again!

Friday brought our third subject, Human Performance and Limitations, which most students find quite interesting as the material requires mostly common sense, as well as a brief examination of human physiology. As a subject there is also a significant amount of time spent watching video documentaries; air crash investigation it is!

Initially we've looked at some physiology, but also failures due to human error (which for the stato's account for 70-80% of accidents). Time and time again 'Reasons Swiss Cheese Model' is used as a foundation of discussion, the first accident we looked at being the collision of two Boeing 747's at Tenerife in the late 1970's. The theory suggests that no accident is ever attributable to one single occurrence, and investigators can normally follow a reverse time-line from the incident with many factors contributing to the final outcome. Put simply if one of the slices is moved/altered and the path is stopped (path of opportunity), the final outcome can be significantly different.

In the case of the Tenerife disaster, there were a significant number of 'slices' (listed below) which all had some bearing on the final outcome, and a cursory look at the list shows that removing any one of them could have avoided the catastrophe.

• Bomb Scare on adjacent Island:- No bomb scare, neither aircraft would never have been there
• Crew Hours:- KLM flight crew running short on hours may have caused rushing
• Last minute refuel:- Captain of KLM elected to take on additional fuel following a delay, when his 747 had sufficient for the planned leg.
• Fog:- During the refuel a bank of fog covered the airport preventing the crews from seeing the potential collision. No refuel = no fog = visual contact with threat!
• Taxi Ambiguity:- PanAm crew misinterpreted which exit taxiway to use, putting them on the runway for longer.
• Lack of take off clearance:- KLM Captain commenced take-off roll without proper clearance
• Call stepping/blocking:- When ATC attempted to tell the KLM to hold position, the PanAm also transmitted reporting they were on the runway Unfortunately as both transmitted simultaneously, they cancelled each other out.

Away from being tied to my desk I went for a run around the Itchen valley country park. It's quite an intriguing place as the approach lights for Southampton Airport are mostly in the park, so the aircraft on approach are quite close as they descend on short final overhead. Below are a few of the pictures I took.....

Approach lights heavily guarded by fences and razor wire (i'm sure much to the annoyance of the metal thief's!)

The Localizer. Basically a bright orange aerial used to give guidance in azimuth to arrivals from the opposite direction. As a guy if you sit on it, you're not having children!